Anumber of major free speech organizations are joining together to demand government accountability for Sri Lankan cartoonist Prageeth Eknaligoda who was disappeared on his way home from the office in Colombo almost 200 days ago.

"Two hundred days have passed since Sri Lankan journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda disappeared. Prageeth, who regularly contributed to LankaeNews web site, went missing 24th January 2010. Prageeth is a political analyst and a cartoonist known for his outspoken views critical of the government of Sri Lanka.

Since Prageeth’s disappearance his wife, along with media rights and human rights groups, has continuously urged the Government of Sri Lanka to reveal his whereabouts. The Cartoonists Rights Network International acknowledged her relentless campaign by bestowing a Special Recognition award for her spirited challenge to the Sri Lankan government to account for her disappeared husband.

While the police and other authorities have failed in providing any information that leads to finding Prageeth, they haven't taken any steps to counter or investigate freely circulated disinformation that he is in hiding. Whatever took place on the night of 24th January 2010, it is the duty of Sri Lanka’s government, led by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, to find where Prageeth is and inform his wife Sandya and the world. The inability to do so inevitably affirms Sandya’s repeated assertion that she holds the government of Sri Lanka responsible for the disappearance of her husband.

Therefore, on the 12th of August 2010, the International Day of Solidarity for Prageeth, standing beside Sandya, we, the undersigned organizations, call upon the government of Sri Lanka to fulfil our reasonable demand.

President Rajapaksa: Find journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda and give him back to us!"

AUS State Department report released on August 11, 2010, shows that Sri Lanka has not yet conducted an effective investigation into laws-of-war violations by government forces and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the final months of the war that ended in May 2009, Human Rights Watch said today. The report states that one post-war government inquiry was "ineffective" and that a second inquiry, just under way, raises concerns about its mandate and composition.

"The US State Department report shows that nearly 15 months after the war, the Sri Lankan government has accomplished nothing for the victims of war crimes," said James Ross, legal and policy director at Human Rights Watch. "Real progress on justice demands an international investigation."

The 18-page State Department report, mandated by the 2010 Appropriations Act and prepared by the Office of War Crimes Issues, examines two ad hoc bodies that the Sri Lankan government established after the 26-year armed conflict ended in 2009.

The State Department report concludes that the "Group of Eminent Persons," a committee created to examine more than 300 alleged laws-of-war violations detailed in an October 2009 US State Department report, was "ineffective" and "did not produce any discernible results."

The report states: "The Department of State is not aware of any findings or reports of the Group. The Group did not appear to investigate allegations or to make any recommendations pursuant to its mandate." The Group of Eminent Persons missed several deadlines for its report, the last in July, and now has been subsumed into the new commission.

The State Department report expresses concerns about the mandate and composition of the second panel, the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, which has just started its work. The report notes that "the terms of reference are ambiguous as to what types of harms they cover and whether the investigation is linked to violations of international law."

The report also says that there are "questions concerning the independence and impartiality of some members of the commission," including the chairman, C.R. De Silva. It noted that De Silva's "relationship to the government" and "his involvement in the failure" of a previous commission "could compromise the independence and impartiality" of the commission.

The report also concludes that several experts commissioned by the government to examine a video of alleged extrajudicial executions by army soldiers were government and army experts and that such an inquiry "should have been undertaken by individuals without an interest in the outcome of the forensic analysis."

The report notes "the history of failings of a series of past [Commissions of Inquiry] established in Sri Lanka." Sri Lanka has a long history of establishing ad hoc inquiries to deflect international criticism over its poor human rights record and widespread impunity, Human Rights Watch said. Since independence in 1948, Sri Lanka has established more than 10 such commissions, none of which have produced any significant results.

On June 22, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed a three-person Panel of Experts to advise him on next steps on accountability in Sri Lanka. The US and other governments have supported the panel, which follows up on the commitment to investigate abuses made by the Sri Lankan president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, to Ban in May 2009. Sri Lankan officials have called the panel "an unwarranted and unnecessary interference with a sovereign nation." In July, demonstrations against the panel led by a Sri Lankan government minister blocked access to the UN compound in Colombo, prompting Ban to recall the UN's ranking official in Sri Lanka temporarily and to close one of its offices. The Panel of Experts is to present its findings in four months.

"The State Department report shows that countries should be looking toward the UN to see justice done in Sri Lanka," Ross said. "The support of the US and other governments for the UN Panel of Experts and the implementation of its recommendations is crucial."

The US authorities have lifted the ban imposed on Sri Lankan army officers being trained in the US military academies.

The US State Dept imposed this ban in the beginning of this year due to false allegations made against the defence forces of killing LTTE cadres coming to surrender carrying white flags. The Sri Lanka army also found out that this ban was imposed on false human rights violations report sent to the US State Dept by two NGO chiefs active in Sri Lanka.

Incidentally the Chinese govt has also invited two senior army officers of Sri Lanka to undergo a training course at the Chinese defence academy.

Aship carrying Tamil asylum seekers from Sri Lanka is approaching Canada, with as many as 500 people on board.

The MV Sun Sea cargo ship has already entered Canadian-claimed waters within 320km from the Pacific coast of Vancouver Island, in the province of British Colombia, Canadian authorities said late on Wednesday.

A Canadian naval ship is preparing to intercept the ship should it come closer to shore.

Authorities have expressed concerns that both human smuggling and trafficking, and the movement of Tamil Tiger fighters - a group Canada considers an illegal terrorist organisation - may be taking place on the vessel.

The Tamil Tigers, or Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), fought a nearly three-decades' long civil war against the Sri Lankan government for an independent ethnic homeland for Tamils in the north and east of Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka's military defeated the LTTE last year, but accusations of rights abuses against civilian Tamils have continued.

Potential issues

Vic Toews, Canada's public safety minister, told CTV News: "We have been watching this boat for two and a half months or perhaps even longer, and we have some idea of who is on board.

"We are quite aware of potential issues that might arise when this boat enters our territorial waters," he said.

The Foreign Affairs Department said: "Those responsible for migrant smuggling will be pursued, investigated and prosecuted to the full extent of Canadian law and in accordance with the provisions of international conventions and protocols."

However, the Canadian government has asked local lawyers to act as legal aid for the Tamils.

Nagendra Katpana, the British Columbia representative of the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam, which works for the independence of areas in the north and east of Sri Lanka, told Al Jazeera from Vancouver: "From our information we know there are close to 200+ Tamils onboard and these are a combination of men, women and children."

Regarding whether any of the passengers were members of the LTTE, Katpana said: "At this time we can't confirm such information. We hope that when they arrive the immigration authorities will determine their eligibility to enter Canada.

"This is propaganda ... in Sri Lanka these people are facing human rights violations ... Since May last year these people have been facing extreme hardship."

Tamil community

Katpana said that 76 people arrived last October with similar allegations of LTTE membership being made, but they have all since been allowed to remain in Canada and apply for refugee status.

She said passengers' relatives could be residing in Canada, and as a country that upholds human rights and democracy these refugees are heading towards its shores.

The boat is expected to arrive around midnight or early morning on Friday on Vancouver Island. It is then likely to be escorted to Victoria, the provincial capital. The passengers will then be taken to a detention centre.

About 300,000 Tamils reside in Canada, one of the largest such communities outside of Sri Lanka and India.

Canada has a reputation for accepting refugees but has recently become stricter in attempting to weed out unwanted immigrants. It has considered the LTTE to be a criminal organisation since 2006.

The MV Sun Sea attempted to dock in Australia a few months ago but was turned away.

Chitranganee Wagiswara, Sri Lanka's high commissioner to Canada, said Canada should deny the passengers claims for refugee status.

The Ruhunu University Students Union (RUSU) charged that have now begun eradicating student leaders in the university by filing bogus charges against them.

A second year student of the Ruhunu University was arrested by the police on Wednesday evening without reasonable cause, the Union added.

According to RUSU Secretary Duminda Tharaka, the arrested student – Rohan Pradeep Kumara, a student of the Management and Finance faculty was arrested for not being present at court for a case filed against him by the university administration.

Police Spokesman SP Prishantha Jayakody speaking to Daily Mirror said that if an individual has committed an unlawful act they will be arrested and it is simply not because they are university students.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

By Andrew Buncombe | The Independent.............................................................................................................................................................................................

Sri Lanka's investigation into the war against the Tamil Tigers – a conflict that left thousands of civilians dead – has begun amid a barrage of allegations that justice will not be done.

When President Mahinda Rajapaksa announced the commission earlier this year, its purpose was ostensibly to find out why a 2002 ceasefire brokered by Norway, and signed by the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), broke down. Its chairman, C R de Silva, said in his opening remarks yesterday that the time had come to "consolidate the military victory by addressing the root causes of the conflict and establish national integrity and reconciliation".

But several human rights groups, along with organisations representing the country's Tamil minority, who have long complained of being marginalised, believe the inquiry was designed to deflect UN and other international demands for an investigation into the final stages of the war, in which more than 10,000 Tamil civilians may have been killed. Crucially, the government-appointed inquiry has no mandate to examine this aspect of a conflict which is estimated to have claimed more than 70,000 lives over 30 years.

Suren Surendiran, a senior member of the Global Tamil Forum, said: "Sri Lanka has fooled the international community for so long and this commission is another one of those eyewashes. All we ask is justice for the thousands who perished in the last few weeks and months and years leading up to the end of the war last year."

In June, the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, appointed a three-member panel to advise him on ensuring accountability for the alleged abuses during the war, which ended with the crushing of the last remnants of the LTTE forces in the late spring of 2009.

As well as accusing them of indiscriminate shelling, rights groups have claimed that government forces blocked access to food and medicine for minority Tamil civilians trapped in the war zone. The rebels have been accused of holding civilians as human shields, killing those trying to escape the violence and forcibly recruiting children as fighters.

The International Crisis Group think tank said in a report early this year that at least 30,000 civilians could have died in the last phase of the fighting. Earlier this week, a group of 57 US lawmakers wrote to the Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, urging her to push for an international investigation.

Sri Lanka has angrily refused to cooperate with the UN panel or issue visas for its members, saying an external panel is an infringement of the country's sovereignty.

Aprotest at the U.N. compound and a cabinet minister's three-day "fast unto death" has not deterred U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon from proceeding with a probe into alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka.

Meanwhile, the government, which denies the war crimes' allegations, has redoubled its efforts to stymie the move -- through negotiations with the opposition and working with the West.

The final phase of the military campaign last year to defeat the Tamil Tiger rebels, who fought a two and half-decades-long bloody separatist war, is shrouded in controversy. Local and international media were barred access to the battle zones.

Ban has appointed a three-member expert panel to advise him on the way forward. They have four months to accomplish the task.

Human rights groups have alleged that both troops and rebels violated humanitarian laws and thousands of innocent civilians were killed.

Among those who voiced concerns were officials from the United States and the United Kingdom. However, Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa has said, "Not one civilian was shot dead by our troops." Tamil Tiger rebels have also denied the allegations.

Sri Lanka also insists that a Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission appointed by Rajapaksa would be sufficient.

The impending U.N. inquiry into alleged war crimes is not the only foreign relations issue dogging President Rajapaksa's government. The European Union has withdrawn its concessionary tariffs for Sri Lanka's exports as of August 15 this year.

Worst hit will be the apparel industry. Apparel industrialists fear that cutbacks in production as a result of the ban would force them to retrench labor or even shut down factories.

Rohan Masakorala, chairman of Sri Lanka's Joint Apparel Exporters Forum, said the loss for the current year will be between $300 million and $500 million.

The EU had sought a written commitment from the government before July 1 that 15 EU conditions would be carried out. Those include a demand, in accordance with the constitution, that "independent and impartial appointments to key public positions, is fully safeguarded."

This demand extends to a "Constitutional Council which adequately reflects the interests of all political, ethnic and religious groups and minorities within the Sri Lankan society."

The EU also called for the repeal of remaining 2005 emergency regulations, the adoption and prompt implementation of a national human rights action plan, and sought to "ensure journalists can exercise their professional duties without harassment."

The government at first rejected the EU demands, with External Affairs Minister, Professor G.L. Peiris, saying they infringed upon Sri Lanka's sovereignty and are therefore "not negotiable."

However, he recently met EU envoy Bernard Savage for talks. An External Affairs Ministry statement said, "A dialogue is the only way forward." Though the remarks suggested a possible shift in stance, Sri Lankan officials declined further comment.

Savage told CNN that "there is still no indication to us from the government how they intend to proceed." He said the EU decided on February 15 of this year to suspend tariff concessions from August 15. "This ban will come into force. There is no change," he added.

"This will definitely have an impact not only on the apparel sector but on value-added agricultural and industrial exports to the EU," said Nisthar.

Cassim, editor of the Colombo-based Financial Times. "More than the concessions, it is the profile of the country that is at stake."

Analysts say the EU withdrawal and the consequent cutbacks in production would force factories to close leaving thousands out of employment.

The United States has also said it would review trade preferences extended to Sri Lanka. A statement by the U.S. Embassy in Colombo said that the AFL-CIO, the largest labor organization in the United States, filed a petition with the U.S. government requesting "a review of worker rights" for a second time after its first effort failed in 2008. It has been accepted, and there will be a public hearing, likely in August, the embassy said.

The US Assistant Trade Representative for South and Central Asia, Michael Delaney, recently led a delegation to Sri Lanka for talks. He told a news conference at the end of his visit that "discussions between all stakeholders including government official, trade unions and companies had been progressive and positive," but declined to give any specifics.

Fears of international isolation, particularly by the West, appear to have weighed on President Rajapaksa, said Ameen Izzadeen, an international affairs commentator for newspapers in Sri Lanka, including the privately-owned English-language Daily Mirror.

Rajapaksa abandoned plans to amend the constitution to allow contesting office as president for more than the current two terms. Instead, he recently invited Ranil Wickremesinghe, leader of the opposition, for talks on constitutional reform. Wickremesinghe heads the right-wing United National Party, which has the second largest majority in parliament.

"Recent international events have a bearing on the talks we are holding," Wickremesinghe said.

He said he had agreed with Rajapaksa on abolishing the executive presidency, which some critics have said vests too much power in the president, and instead creating an office of executive prime minister -- but it's not clear yet what power that office would have.

Wickremesinghe's party leaders were continuing a dialogue with their counterparts in the government on other constitutional changes, noting that he did not rule out his party's co-operation "in the national interest" if its own proposals were heeded.

"Rajapaksa can then have Wickremesinghe, a favorite of the West, on board to mend fences with the international community," Izzadeen said. "The opposition leader is liked by the West and the EU. However, Rajapaksa will have to accept the opposition party's views on some contentious issues in the constitutional reforms, which is no easy task."

Basil Rajapaksa, senior presidential advisor, minister of economic development and brother to the president, said: "We have accomplished a major task -- defeat terrorism that has plagued the country for almost three decades. If there are any misconceptions or misgivings with our friends, we see no difficulty in ironing them out."

Thursday, August 12, 2010

August 12, 2010 | International Day of Solidarity for Prageeth Ekneligoda.............................................................................................................................................................................................

Two hundred days have passed since Sri Lankan journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda disappeared. Prageeth,who regularly contributed to LankaeNews web site, went missing 24th January 2010. Prageeth is a political analyst and a cartoonist known for his outspoken views critical of the government of Sri Lanka.

Since Prageeth’s disappearance his wife, along with media rights and human rights groups, has continuously urged the Government of Sri Lanka to reveal his whereabouts. The Cartoonists Rights Network International acknowledged her relentless campaign by bestowing a Special Recognition award for her spirited challenge to the Sri Lankan government to account for her disappeared husband.

While the police and other authorities have failed in providing any information that leads to finding Prageeth, they haven’t taken any steps to counter or investigate freely circulated disinformation that he is in hiding. Whatever took place on the night of 24th January 2010, it is the duty of Sri Lanka’s government, led by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, to find where Prageeth is and inform his wife Sandya and the world. The inability to do so inevitably affirms Sandya’s repeated assertion that she holds the government of Sri Lanka responsible for the disappearance of her husband.

Therefore, on the 12th of August 2010, the International Day of Solidarity for Prageeth, standing beside Sandya, we, the undersigned organizations and individuals, call upon the government of Sri Lanka to fulfil our reasonable demand.

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